HP's earnings have come in for Q4 and, while the results are good, they aren't …

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Last week, HP took the unusual step of issuing a preview of its fourth quarter results. All the indicators the company gave at the time were positive, so there was little reason to suspect that the subsequent earnings report would be anything but good. As I pointed out at the time, HP's numbers seemed to illustrate an unusually strong Q3 compared to historical trends, while the results were an unusual blip on the bleak landscape of reports being issued by Dell, Intel, and AMD.

With the final numbers in, we can draw some more specific conclusions. HP's revenue for fiscal Q4 (PDF) was $33.6 billion, up 19 percent year-on-year (up 16 percent when adjusted for currency changes). A substantial chunk of this, however, was delivered courtesy of Electronics Data Systems (EDS), which HP acquired earlier this year. Without EDS in the equation, HP's growth rates are much more modest; company revenue was up five percent year-on-year (two percent when adjusted for currency).

Gross operating margin actually fell in the fourth quarter, dropping 1.1 percent, as did net earnings, which were down to $2.1 billion from $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007. Mark ("GNU") Hurd characterized the company's performance in Q4 as the end of a solid year, saying, "HP capped off a strong year by delivering another solid quarter led by strength in our services segment and disciplined expense management. Our global reach, broad portfolio, numerous cost initiatives and consistent execution differentiate HP in the current economic environment."

Whether or not HP can actually deliver on Hurd's rhetoric will probably depend on the depth and breadth of the worldwide financial crisis. The company grew revenue in all of its geographic areas during its fiscal Q4: revenue in the Americas was up 17 percent, 22 percent in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (MEA), and 14 percent in Asia/Pacific. Revenue from outside the United States accounts for 68 percent of HP's income—a fact which would insulate the company to a degree from any US market upheaval. Then again, it's referred to as a global financial crisis for a reason. Even strong growth in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC countries), which HP claims grew 23 percent year-on-year and accounted for nine percent of revenue, may not be enough to offset the rest of the planet's trouble.

Broken down by business groups, HP's Personal Systems Group (notebooks, desktops) grew 10 percent to $11.2 billion; notebook revenue was up 21 percent in the quarter while desktop revenues fell by two percent. The Imaging and Printing Group's revenue fell by one percent, to $7.5 billion, driven downwards by declines in commercial and consumer printer sales. Printer unit shipments fell eight percent during the quarter. Enterprise Storage and Servers reported total revenue that was down one percent.

One bright spot was storage revenue, which grew 13 percent, led by a 16 percent in sales from HP's midrange EVA product line. HP services revenue increased 99 percent thanks, as we mentioned, to the company's acquisition of EDS earlier in the year. HP software revenue, meanwhile, grew 13 percent, while HP Financial Services was up five percent.

The company had a successful quarter overall, holding its ground in numerous areas despite signs of an impending blow to the IT industry. Unfortunately, HP's outlook for the next quarter is no better than we've seen from other companies. The company expects "an unfavorable year-over-year currency impact on revenue of approximately five percentage points in the first quarter and roughly 6-7 percentage points for the full fiscal year."